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They may be the same chip, but that doesn't equate to the same electronics or PCB, and definitely not the same ROM image. All iMac's have an Apple compatible ROM flashed on to the MXM graphics card.Reply

Since when is that a thing anyway... For a large chuck of the audience out there it may just look like a typo made by someone with a Spanish layout on their keyboard (that's where the inverted ¡/¿ come from, they're used at both ends of the sentence in Spanish).Reply

I have an HP with a radeon 7690m tx with a I7 2670qm processor. From nearly day one I have been having the same video display problems.; lines through the screen, text appearing garbled like code (ie. ÿÀÿþ^Ïíø¾ûyá6x‰ñ#‰eÂRŸÿÑàø), display driver failures, bluescreen because of display driver failure. HP support was pretty worthless, but now I realize the problem.

I think this is a much more widespread issue than people realize and given more investigation I'm betting that AMD will find it is affecting many more devices than previously realized.Reply

Yes, I'm sure the problem you are having with a 7690m is the exact same problem Apple ran into with the 6970m. After all, it's all the same part numbers just jumbled up! Or you know, you could just have some faulty hardware that isn't related to this at all. I wouldn't assume any issues with Blackcomb are the same as you are seeing on a Whistler part. Why on earth didn't you return or exchange your laptop?Reply

I have 2x 6970m's that were only used 4 months in my alienware m18xr1. I replaced them with gtx 680m's in sli. Also added a triple pipe upgraded heatsink based on the r2 extreme cpu heatsink Anyone with issues that wants a cheap replacement. $175 each will include the heatsink assembly as well incase you can use it. daovermindbrood AATT hotmail(dot)comReply

These things feel like they're always running over 50C when you touch them (and sensors confirm it IIRC). Cramming such powerful hardware into such a tight package is asking for trouble, no matter how clever they get with cooling and using the whole aluminium body as a heatsink. When I worked in a computer store, 2 out of 3 Macs in for repairs were iMacs. But of course, they'll blame AMD if they can get away with it...Reply

It could be poor cooling just over the GPU but there are other components in the chassis that seems to have less issues. Whether this is an Apple design flaw or not we can't determine but I do know that powerful GPUs have had longterm use issues long before the iMac was around.Reply

AMD & NV GPUs have no problems running at 85-90*C 24/7 for 2 years in a row. I tested plenty just for fun. Never had any failures with either brand. It has to be some component related issues, not temperatures.Reply

If I had to guess, I'd say it was simply over heating in the iMac chassis. For reasons I cannot fathom, Apple has been chasing the whole concept of thin for their iMac line like they do their laptops. Some one should tell Apple that few extra milimeters of depth for an all-in-one desktop isn't the end of the world. I dread to see how the late 2012 models are going to last long term....Reply

I don't see how adding a "few extra millimeters of depth" would help. I could even see an argument for how it could hurt using Simon42's comment about the chassis acting as a heat sink.

If it is an issue with heat and that issue can be solved with better cooling then that should be the resolution, not simply making the chassis a little bigger. If the improved cooling requires more room in the chassis then that should happen but that a circumstance of the solution.

It seems to me Apple would have done plenty of testing on these iMacs to see how hot the internals got under load and yet they've moved from using mobile-class chips to desktop-class chips and continued to make it thinner so I have to wonder if the problem isn't simply not enough attention given to proper cooling.Reply

It sounds like you've done stunning little research on what is actually inside an iMac... They use desktop CPUs, on custom-designed mainboards (just like a SFF desktop or laptop) and discrete laptop graphics (in the past low-mid range desktop chips were in use).

It's a premium computer where most of the cost is probably in the LCD panel and chassis actually - not a lot different to Dell XPS or high-end HP all-in-ones that also cost more money...Reply

The iMac has used mobile-class processors for much of its existence. The most recent usage with the desktop class processors appears to have arrived at the same time as the unibody aluminium enclosure.

I've no idea how you define a "mobile class processor" but my 2012 iMac has an quad-core i7-3770 at 3.4GHz turboi'ing up to 3.9GHz.Intel classifies this as a Desktop CPU, and the only way you're going to get anything faster is by going to a Xeon (or one of those crazy "enthusiast" CPUs).

As far as I can tell, Apple does exactly what you'd expect them to do. They design the system to support a what is generally the highest powered (non-Xeon) Intel CPU available at the time, and users who want that can pay for it. But by default they ship the system with a lower performance/lower power CPU which is both cheaper and probably a better match for most people (who will appreciate a cooler running system, and will never use require the maximum performance of the more expensive chip). Whether that default chip is classified by Intel as Desktop or Mobile is probably irrelevant to Apple's calculations, what is relevant is the cost/performance/power tradeoff, with different decisions being made for different models. Reply

(a) The iMacs in question are 2011 models. They are NOT the current thin models. They are a lot fatter than a laptop, and the GPU has a hulking great heat sink on top --- you can find tear-down pics at iFixit.

(b) A persistent problem with ATI GPUs which I've noticed over the last five years or so is that ATI seems to constantly bin these things too aggressively so that a non-negligible fraction of them run very hot and eventually degenerate to displaying garbage. It's common enough that there's even a cottage industry on the internet telling you how to detach an ATI card or daughterboard and bake it in your oven for a few minutes in the hope that you'll repair minute solder breaks (which are one of the failure modes but not the only one, resulting from these constantly running so hot).I've not noticed the same pattern in nV cards, but I've never looked at this scientifically, this is just seeing the pattern of complaints in forums over the years.

The very newest iMacs (the ones that ARE thinner) have (nV) GPUs soldered on board, not daughter cards, with no huge heat sinks, and the GPUs seem to run a lot cooler. Certainly nV seems to have taken seriously the realization that the previous model of continually cranking the things hotter and hotter was unsustainable. I've no idea whether ATI has seen the light on this point with there very latest GPUs. Reply

One of the changes since 2011 has been the move to 28 nm GPU's. There is a bit of power saving there. The other change with GPU's, in particular nVidia's more recent Kepler parts is that they are throttling based upon temperature which in the case of the iMac, prevent failure in most cases.

As for AMD, the Radeon HD 7000 series was binned a bit lower than what they could get out of the designs (ie Radeon 7970 -> 7970 Ghz edition). I would expected better thermal controls with the next batch of GPU's due later this year since they'll be produced on the same 28 nm as the Radeon HD 7000 series.Reply

I know, terrible customer service from Apple, giving their 'out of warranty' customers the option to have a free video card replacement, and offer refunds to those who already had to pay for it. I expect nothing less from such a ruthless company.

It reminds me of when they made me replace my defunct 5 year old 1st gen iPod nano (1gb) (free of postage) with a brand new 6th gen (4gb) version due to a battery issue they discovered.

It's a good thing other computer manufacturers (Dell, HP, Clevo...etc) using the same broken AMD chipset don't offer such an appalling free repair policy¡

If you have an impacted S/N I would suggest running your GPU 24x7 until it fails for the replacement. I had a HP with a known defective GPU (probably the "bumpgate" referred to in this article) that got an extended warranty on the GPU due to very high failure rates. Unfortunately mine didn't start to fail until about a year after the extra warranty had run out. Lesson learned, fire up a game demo every night and kill it while you can still get it replaced for free.Reply

"But given just how rarely we see large scale video card longevity issues, this is somewhat worrying."

Not sure on which planet you're living but on this planet the dGPU is one of the most prominent failures one can have in a laptop though often it is related to the dGPU overheating and/or desoldering itself. Apple has often been plagued by this with it's laptop; I've had to fix^Wworkaround multiple desoldered GPUs in iBooks and MacBooks. Even my Core2Duo MBP 17" has had GPU problems for at least two years now.Reply

My friend bought the top of the line and had issues from day one- could not play any Flash video without machine freezing or crashing. Years have gone by before Apple took action. Total BS customer service.Reply